


Running in the Shadows

by WeAreTheLuckyOnes



Series: Down Comes the Night [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Creatures, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Blood and Gore, Blow Jobs, Canon-Typical Violence, Explicit Sexual Content, Frotting, Graphic Violence, Hand Jobs, Implied/Reference Character Death, Kidnapping, M/M, Major Character Injury, Major character death - Freeform, Mercy Killing, Riding, Shapeshifter Castiel, Werewolf Dean, explicit violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:54:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25134976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeAreTheLuckyOnes/pseuds/WeAreTheLuckyOnes
Summary: After Castiel regains his Grace, Dean's life changes in ways he never expected. He's gained a family, a pack, and even a son. But when the Devil himself snatches his son away from him, what lengths will Dean go to for his safe recovery?
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Minor Jody Mills/Donna Hanscum - Relationship, Minor Sam Winchester/Rowena MacLeod, Minor Sam Winchester/Rowena MacLeod/Gabriel, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: Down Comes the Night [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1735210
Comments: 5
Kudos: 33





	Running in the Shadows

**Author's Note:**

> Part two of Down Comes the Night. I feel like a terrible person, cause this fic took me like a million years to write, compared to the three weeks it took me to finish the first. The third won't be ready until I've participated in the Destiny Bang, so I'll try to start it somewhere between November and December, and it'll be the last fic of the series.
> 
> I feel it's very important to note that approximately 10k words in a character mentions the stories of mythological and biblical characters with intense backgrounds, but no detail is given. If you want to investigate further, be aware. 
> 
> Title from The Chain by Fleetwood Mac.

-*-*-

Part 2

-*-*-

Dean starts taking time by himself a week after they come back from the Men of Letters bunker. They've moved from the townhouse in Minsk to a ten-room penthouse in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and the city is surrounded by rainforest. Wolves aren't native to Bolivia, so whenever he goes out, he's always careful not to be seen by humans.

He’s so used to being alone but now that there are a dozen people around him he gets agitated constantly by the things the others do or don’t do. Shifting by himself in the middle of a rainforest is the only reprieve he gets from the twenty-something girls who do nothing but bicker and a younger brother who does nothing but whine at Dean (and lock himself away in a room with Rowena, which Dean _does not_ want to think about _ever_ ). 

And Castiel. He’s been different since he took his Grace back, despite promising not to be, and it’s really starting to get to Dean. He still touches Dean, still lies with him at night, but he doesn't sleep; he never sleeps anymore. He's got thousands of years of memories and information in his head and Dean doesn't even know how he fits in there anymore. 

He hunts, not because he needs to but because he has nothing else to do, and sometimes he brings it back to the penthouse. Other times, he lets the poor beasts go. 

He's following after a particularly squat hare, prowling through the decaying fallen leaves, shrubs, and roots that make up the forest floor. This time, he plans to bring it back and make something for Kelly because he vaguely remembers the pack feeding the pregnant omegas rabbit meat. Kelly's not a wolf, but he knows rabbit meat is safe for humans, and she's going to need the protein and calories pretty soon.

Dean's honestly surprised she's lasted this long; he expected the Nephilim to come days ago. He'd thought, considering it seemed to be pretty much conscious already, it would have chosen to come out, rather than stay in longer. Dean gets the feeling the Nephilim is putting off its mother's death as long as possible (if that's even conceivable).

The hare stops to sniff at the inside of a log and Dean manages to catch it by surprise, snapping his jaws around the back of its neck, snapping its spine between heartbeats. He huffs triumphantly and carries it back to the bag and clothes he left hanging in a tree on the outskirts of the city. He hadn't smelt anyone as he was walking, or anything different from what he left when he went hunting, so he's surprised to find Castiel waiting for him, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed over his chest. He looks far more human standing like that then he has in days, a contradiction to the straight-backed, blank-faced angel he is around everyone but Dean, but also sometimes including him.

Dean drops the hare at his feet and sits back on his haunches, tilting his head to the side in curiosity, hoping it conveys the question he can't ask; _'what are you doing here?'_

Castiel hums, unfolding his arms and reaching down to scratch behind Dean's ear. It's nice, and Dean leans into it, his eyes falling shut until he remembers he's supposed to be mad at Castiel and pulls away, grunting at him. "I had to get out of there before I killed Dagon. Or my brothers."

Dean's heart suddenly aches with the memory of running with Castiel as the raven, wishing that he could still shift. Wishing he was still human, still _his_. Now, he's just waiting for the moment that Castiel returns to heaven with Gabriel and Michael. It's an ugly feeling, one that sits heavy in his gut. 

Castiel's mouth turns down into a frown. "Can you shift and talk to me, please? You've been weird for weeks."

Dean doesn't want to talk, but he does shift back, climbing to his feet and shoving Castiel back against the tree with a hand on his chest. He angles his head down and kisses Castiel until the angel stops trying to argue and instead takes Dean's face in his hands, deepening the kiss with his tongue. Dean reaches up to start unbuttoning Castiel’s shirt, sliding his hands through the sides as he pops each button one by one. He pushes the shirt from Castiel’s shoulders, pulling it out from between him and the tree and dropping it on the bag of Dean’s clothes. Castiel’s hand slides from Dean’s cheek into his hair, fingers scratching at his scalp until a shiver runs down Dean’s spine. 

It's entirely possible that fucking Castiel in the middle of a Bolivian rainforest is probably _not_ the best idea, but even the little voice in the back of his head, the one that tells him he's an idiot (that he rarely listens to), is quiet.

Dean's gonna do it anyway.

He reaches down and pops the button of Castiel's jeans, shoving them down his legs, along with his briefs. He licks into Castiel's mouth, tasting his tongue and dragging his own tongue behind his teeth. Castiel's hand grows tight in Dean's hair and he jerks Dean's head to the side to get his mouth on Dean's throat. 

"Fuck, Cas," Dean groans, sliding his hand around Castiel's bicep, squeezing, holding him in place. 

Castiel sucks a sore, red mark into the skin below Dean's ear, grazing his teeth over it before he kicks off his shoes, and his pants with them. When he speaks, mouth hovering over Dean's flesh, his voice is thick and rough, "Fuck me, Dean."

Dean's groin tightens, and electricity shoots through his veins, settling into his gut. He tilts Castiel's head back up towards his own and kisses him, setting his teeth into Castiel’s bottom lip until the angel groans deep in his chest. Dean wants to fuck him too, so fucking bad, but, "I don't have any lube, Cas."

"It's fine, I got it," Castiel doesn't elaborate, but Dean feels the rush of power slide over his skin like a wave.

"Did you just miracle yourself prepped?" Dean asks, pulling back to stare at Castiel incredulously. Jesus _fucking_ Christ. He slides his hand down Castiel's body from his cheek to his ass, pressing his fingers between Castiel's cheeks. His cock jerks when he feels the slick at Castiel's hole. "Holy fuck, Cas, you're incredible."

Castiel's grin is sharp and smug, and he anchors his arms around Dean's shoulders then swings his leg around Dean's hip. Dean catches him, arms going under Castiel's knees, holding him up and against the tree behind him. Castiel's back is going to be scraped to hell after this, but he's an angel, Dean supposes he can just heal himself.

Dean reaches his hand down and aligns his cock with Castiel's slick hole, thrusting his hips up carefully until the head of his dick pops through the ring of muscle and into Castiel's body. Castiel groans, throwing his head back against the tree trunk, tilting his hips towards Dean and down, forcing more of Dean's cock inside him than Dean would have given him so quickly. A flush has worked its way from the apples of Castiel's cheeks down his chest, leaving his skin a nice shade of pink that Dean wants to suck red marks into. So he does. He gets his mouth on Castiel's shoulder and sucks a bruise into the pale skin there, fingers digging more bruises into the flesh of Castiel's thighs. 

Dean rolls his hips, fucking his cock up into Castiel slowly and Castiel groans into the air, face tilted up towards the sky. A smug feeling akin to possessiveness tears through his gut when he imagines who could be watching them, and he sucks another mark at the crook of Castiel's throat, fucking his hips up harder as if to say ' _he's mine and I'll kill for him_ '. He's so consumed with Castiel's body and with the possessive streak he's apparently just developed that it doesn't occur to him that no one probably cares enough to be watching. 

His teeth ache, his wolf begging him to bite down into Castiel's throat to claim him and Dean rubs the enamel against Castiel's bony shoulder to stop himself from just fucking doing it. He can't even claim an angel (or a shapeshifter, he thinks), but his wolf wants to give it a damn good try. 

Through the fog in Dean's head, the possessiveness, mood swings and anger directed at Castiel (possibly a little exaggerated, though definitely completely justified) start to make sense. Of course his rut has come now, like they weren't waiting for other important things. He decides the wolf spirits can go eat themselves.

He pulls away from Castiel's throat and opens his mouth to say something, to tell him, warn him, but Castiel kisses him before he can, teeth sinking into Dean's bottom lip until it hurts. Dean's wolf stretches out, filling his toes and fingertips, telling Dean it likes when Castiel bites. If Dean can't then Castiel should. "It's alright, I could tell this morning."

Dean pulls away from Castiel, hips stilling, and says, "You could _tell_?"

"Angel senses," Castiel says, by way of explanation (as if it explains it at all). "Now will you shut up and fuck me like I know both you _and_ your wolf want to?"

A growl rumbles from deep in Dean's chest and he tightens his fingers around Castiel's thighs until he's sure they'll bruise, fucking his cock up into Castiel's slick, pliant body. His thrusts are hurried and rough, but Castiel doesn't seem to mind at all. Every time Dean's cock enters Castiel fully and knocks against his prostate the angel lets out a choked keen. Dean gets his mouth on Castiel's nipple, flicking his tongue and grazing his teeth over the hardened nub, and Castiel whimpers, digging his nails into Dean's shoulders. The sharp ache of it sends pleasure shooting through his veins like lightning, settling into his gut. 

"Fuck, Dean, more. Give me more," Castiel groans into the sky, hand sliding from Dean's shoulder into his hair, fingers going tight in the strands. It hurts, almost too much, and Dean's hips stutter up. He gives Castiel more. 

"That's it, sweetheart, you feel so good on my dick," Dean grumbles, nose sliding into the crook of Castiel's neck, breathing in the smell of him. He's different now that he's no longer human, he smells different, but Dean swears when he puts his nose to the artery under Castiel's jaw he can smell the forest in autumn, the winter sunshine under all that angelic power. He scrapes his teeth over the flesh where a werewolf's mating gland would be and Castiel groans deep in his chest. 

Dean reaches down and takes Castiel's cock in his hand, squeezing at the base before sliding it up to twist his hand around the head. Castiel groans again and pulls at Dean's hair until his scalp stings, his body arching off of the tree trunk. Dean moves his mouth from Castiel's throat to kiss him, licking into his mouth, behind his teeth. When he comes it's with a deep whine, his body shivering and rocking down onto Dean's dick again.

Dean thrusts up into Castiel's body, chasing his own pleasure, and only remembers at the very last minute to not fuck in too far when his knot starts to form at the base of his cock. Castiel blinks big, pale blue eyes at Dean, and he would almost call that look innocent if Castiel weren't tensing his hole around Dean's cock on purpose.

"I want you to," Castiel says, licking his lips. Dean takes a second to wonder what he's saying, about to ask him, but he doesn't need to when Castiel continues, "Dean, I want you to put it in me, I want you to knot me."

Castiel must know what giving Dean permission to knot him will do to Dean because his grin is sharp and smug when a low primal groan tears its way out of Dean's mouth. Dean anchors himself with a hand on the tree trunk beside Castiel's head as he begins pounding roughly into the angel's body. He feels his knot catch on Castiel's hole, feels the power he uses to make himself looser, slicker, so he can take Dean without pain. Dean's gut grows warm, his muscles tensing as he comes, his knot growing bigger, locking them together. 

Dean falls to a sit on the ground, taking Castiel with him, and turns around so his back is now against the tree. He gets his hand around Castiel's cheek and kisses him gently. "We're going to be like this for a bit."

"I know," Castiel says, and he looks rather smug, and far more human than he's looked in weeks. He's still flushed down to his chest and Dean sets a hand over his chest to feel the warmth of his skin. "I don't-" he doesn't finish what he's going to say, eyes shining angelic blue.

"What's wrong?"

"The Nephilim's birth is imminent."

-*-*-

Castiel uses his angelic power to make Dean's knot go down sooner than it normally would, which is not a nice feeling at all, and they dress before Castiel transports them back to the penthouse. They land in Kelly's bedroom where she is sitting on the bed, holding her belly with her eyes shut tightly in pain. Lucifer, Dagon, Michael, and Gabriel are already in the room, and with the exception of Gabriel, they stand a distance from her, looking unimpressed. Gabriel is sitting next to her on the bed, an arm around her shoulders, and he looks awkward, but at least he's trying his best. He shoots a pleading look at Dean who nods and smiles gently and takes his place on the bed next to Kelly.

"Hey sweetheart," he says gently, pulling her into his side. He pets at her hair and lets her cling to him while a contraction rolls through her body. When she looks up at him, she looks terrified, eyes wide and pleading, and Dean's heart breaks for her. He looks over at Castiel, then at the other occupants of the room, then back at Castiel, tilting his head expectantly and hoping the angel gets what he's trying to say. He must, because he sends the archangels and the demon out of the room. Dean’s surprised how easily they go. "Alright, I'm going to be honest here, Kelly, the last time I was in the room for a birth I was eleven, so I think we should have someone in here that knows what they're doing. Rowena and Jody have had pups - I mean babies - and I think human sheriffs are trained for these things, so Donna works too. So you got a preference?"

Kelly shakes her head vigorously no. "No, you and Cas, that's it, no one else."

"I don't know what I'm doing, Kelly…" Dean admits, though he doesn't argue any longer when Kelly's face turns up to his, stoic and determined, and almost a little scary. "Okay, yeah, you got it."

Jody and Donna collect the things needed for the birth, such as towels and medical supplies, but they stay outside to pass it all to them because every time they even try to come through the door Kelly yells at them. _Yeah_ , Dean thinks to himself as he's helping Kelly out of her pants, _definitely scary_. 

Dagon and Lucifer only try to come back in once, giving in when Kelly's eyes glow with that heavenly Nephilim fire from the child inside of her. He's not even born yet and he's already taken a pretty strong stance on how he feels about his father. Dean likes the kid already. 

It lasts for hours, as Dean knew it would, but he wasn't even remotely prepared for sitting around while Kelly groaned through a contraction every few minutes, before turning around when it's over to tell Dean and Castiel very forcefully how she expects them to look after her son, to raise him. Dean hadn't really realized that if they're preventing Lucifer from taking the Nephilim, they're going to have to be the ones to look after him, and he finds he doesn't really mind. He's never considered pups before, knew he was never going to have any if he was right about being the only living werewolf, but now he's suddenly faced with the reality of actually raising a child, even if it's not his biologically, he's completely ready for it.

The room glows with golden light as he pulls the baby out by its shoulders, almost blinding him. He can't tell where it's coming from, everywhere and nowhere at the same time, and it washes over him, warm and calming like the ocean in the tropics or a fire in the dead of winter. Kelly’s eyes are golden still, and light streaks up her chest, over her face in the form of yellow lightning. She's dying, he can smell it on her, the way her organs are shutting down, her pulse slowing. Dean lays the baby over her chest, reaching up to brush her damp hair back from her face. Her eyelids are drooping, and a shaking hand reaches up to stroke over the baby's head, the golden blonde curls matted down to his head with blood and amniotic fluid. It's rather disgusting, he's still not very good with bodily fluids.

When Dean looks back at Castiel his eyes are wide with wonder. Dean's not sure if it's the birth or the power that rolls through the room like the lick of flames that has brought on that look of wonder on his face. 

The golden light in Kelly's eyes fades with the thump of her heartbeat until it's barely discernible. She's still awake, but only just, staring down at her son. Dean feels tears prick at his eyes as her breathing and her heartbeat slow to a stop. Her arm falls away from the baby and Dean picks him up just as the wave of power charges through the room again and light shines from Kelly's still body. 

Dean gets thrown back against the wall by the power, grunting when his back complains at the impact. He's held the baby carefully in his arms to protect him, but the Nephilim still cries at the jerked movement. When he looks up at the bed, at Kelly, she's gone. 

"Cas?" Dean asks, climbing to his feet. Castiel had been thrown against the other side of the room and is now standing, fixing his clothes. "Is that normal? She's just… gone."

Castiel nods slowly, approaching Dean and the baby slowly, leaning over to peek at the child in the crook of Dean's arms. He's still crying and Dean rocks him carefully like he did when he was eleven and Max and Alicia were babies. God, it's been _that_ long since he was around babies. 

Castiel reaches in to touch the baby's cheek with two fingers, stroking it gently. "We should clean him. Take him to the bathroom, I'll find clothing for him."

Dean nods his head once and spares one last look at the bed where Kelly had been, the blood-stained sheets, the towels still lying on top of it. His chest clenches and he has to look away before he does something as stupid as cry. He lets himself out of the room where the archangels and the demon are waiting, the humans loitering in the doorway behind them.

Before Lucifer can speak, his mouth opened to do so, Dean points an accusing finger at him and says in a low growl, "If you touch him I will tear you apart with my teeth."

Lucifer's eyes shine dangerously but he doesn't continue, mouth shutting with an audible clack, and Dean pushes past him towards the bathroom.

-*-*-

When the baby is clean and dressed and halfway through his first bottle, Castiel lets himself into the room he and Dean share. He's wringing his hands. "Lucifer has left but he will be back. He's not happy with you, not happy at all."

"He can go fuck himself," Dean mutters, staring down at the small child in his arms, tilting the bottle down towards the baby's tongue like Tasha had shown him when he was younger. The sucking of Jack's mouth has started to slow as he gets sleepy, and Dean lets him drink a bit more before taking the bottle away and settling it onto the bedside table, lifting the newborn up so he's lying against Dean's shoulder, patting his back. "I wasn't going to let him take Jack, and he looked like he was seconds away from tearing him from my arms. I will eat him if he tries, believe me."

The corner of Castiel's mouth tilts up and he says, "I do believe you." He sits on the edge of the bed next to Dean and reaches out to touch the baby's head, stroke gently at the curls. "He's so very small."

Dean shoots him an amused look, still patting the baby's back until he finally burps and Dean can continue feeding him. "Babies do tend to be small, yes." Castiel raises an eyebrow then rolls his eyes. "I wonder if it would kill him if I actually ate him, cause that's a pretty good way to get rid of him."

Castiel shrugs, frowning thoughtfully at Dean. "If we lock him into his vessel, possibly? But would you really want to eat someone?" His stare is very intense and Dean hates that Castiel knows him so fucking well, despite the fact they've not known each other for long. Dean would really rather not eat someone, even if it _is_ the devil. "Are you feeling alright?"

Dean blinks at him, confused. "Yeah, why?"

"You're still in rut, Dean."

Dean waves the hand of the arm he's using to hold Jack dismissively, shaking his head. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. It's not like an omega's heat, I just sort of turn into a jerk for three days every six months. Knotting helps, that's why a lot of people think it's like a heat, I guess? I'm just moody and possessive, so…"

"That's why you've been an asshole?"

Dean's eyes flick up to Castiel, and he suddenly wants to tell the angel exactly what's been going on in his head, but the thought of doing so makes something ugly and sharp curl in his gut. He doesn't want to be so open with anyone, even if he desperately wants Castiel to know that he wants him to stay. Dean Winchester, king of emotional constipation. "Yeah, I guess."

Castiel frowns like he knows something is going unsaid, then pulls his hand away from Jack's head, laying it in his lap with the other. His lips twist thoughtfully and he squints at Dean like he's trying to figure the wolf out. "Why aren't you wearing a shirt?"

Dean lets out a startled laugh and stares down at himself. He'd completely forgotten. "Jody came in when I was bathing Jack, said I should hold him shirtless as much as realistically possible. Something about bonding and skin to skin contact, helping him learn how to regulate his body temperature. I can't remember, I was only half-listening. I was too terrified I was going to drop him in the water." Jack falls asleep before he can finish the whole bottle, mouth fallen open around the teat, so Dean takes it away, setting it back on the bedside table. He shuffles down on the bed, lying against the pillows and lays Jack over his chest. Dean suddenly feels more tired than he can ever remember feeling before, vision almost blurry. "I'm going to sleep with him, can you-"

"I'll watch over you," Castiel says with a nod, pulling the quilt from the bottom of the bed over the both of them. Before Dean's eyes close he watches Castiel climb to his feet and circle the bed to the side he's claimed as his own, sitting down against the headboard.

Dean wakes when Jack does, hungry again, and Castiel's already there with a bottle held out towards him. Dean takes it but leaves it on the bedside table when he smells the surprise Jack has left him in his diaper. Dean barely managed to put the first one on right (and he had to replace it with a new one when he pulled the tab too hard and tore it off) and only with Jody's help, so he sends Castiel off to get her to help him again, setting Jack up on the bed with the baby wipes and a diaper while he waits. After a moment, he also gets some clothing from the box he'd brought in from Kelly's room, a coverall with giraffes on it that Dean refuses to admit to finding kinda cute. 

Jody sits on the bed next to Dean while he sits with the baby between his legs. It's awkward, and they'll need to set up some sort of changing station at some point, but it'll do for now. Claire, Kaia, and Patience are standing in the doorway watching, and Dean can tell they're trying very hard not to come in without being invited, vibrating with energy. Alex and Donna are both back in Sioux Falls, Rowena portals them in and out when they have to work (or risk their coworkers' concern when they don’t show up), and Dean realizes that neither of them even know the baby's been born, let alone that Kelly is dead. 

"You can come in," He tells them, rolling his eyes as they hurriedly shuffle in, hovering around Jack and cooing at him. Some teenagers are just predictable; if babies are around, they lose their minds.

"Can I hold him?" Patience begs, holding her hands together as she does so, eyes pleading. Dean rolls his eyes and snorts his amusement, but hands the baby over when he’s finished changing him. She holds him carefully, practiced like she’s done it before, and coos down at Jack, tickling under his chin. 

Dean leans back against the headboard and crosses his arms against his chest, watching everyone huddle around Patience and the tiny baby in her arms. He's reminded of the dream he had, a week after they took Castiel's Grace back from the Men of Letters (and Castiel had reabsorbed it), that he's still not entirely sure was a dream. Kelly had let herself into Dean and Castiel's room - on a night that Dean had been sleeping alone while Castiel had been with his brothers - and lifted herself up onto Castiel's side of the bed with a small grunt. She had slid under the covers, wriggling until she'd gotten comfortable, then said _He'll need someone to take care of him, raise him right. He'll need family_. He'd agreed without hesitation. He and Castiel, Sam and Rowena, all these people they've chosen to surround themselves with, they were Jack's family.

-*-*-

Dean points an accusatory finger at Castiel, squinting at him angrily as the angel stands stock still in front of him, face amused. He's not allowed to be amused, Dean decides, he's supposed to wallow. "I swear to god, if you go another week without changing a single diaper, I don't care if you're a fucking angel, I will beat you to death and stuff your mutilated body into the Diaper Genie."

Castiel's carefully cradling a sleeping Jack in his arms, very obviously trying not to laugh so he won't wake him, and Dean hates him. "Dean, I'm not avoiding it on purpose. You're very… clingy. No, over-protective."

"Over-" Dean suddenly feels very indignant and levels Castiel with a glare. "I’m an appropriate amount of protective, Cas. He’s a baby. His father, _the devil_ , and the group that has been killing our people for thousands of years both want him.”

Cas rolls his eyes and says, “I know that, Dean. You can hand him over to one of us sometimes. I'm pretty sure an angel, a powerful witch, a werewolf, a group of very skilled humans, and an archangel are perfectly capable of protecting Jack while you take a nap."

Dean deflates, squinting at Castiel. "So he's still here, then?"

Castiel carefully folds himself into the chair across the room from their bed, next to the crib. He had found them both at a flea market in the city, and they don't really match the rest of the room, but Dean likes them in a weird sort of way; the scratches at the top from the teething babies who had come before Jack, the name carved into the bottom, _Maximilian_ , in shaky letters. Rowena had made a face at it, at the peeling paint (which was now covered up) and the scratches (which they'd chosen to leave) and had tried to give Castiel money for a brand new one, but Kelly had loved it. In fact, she'd loved it so much she had started to cry, which wasn't to say unusual for her at all, it was just the deciding factor in keeping it.

"He's rather enamoured with your brother. It's extremely annoying."

Dean snorts. "You're telling me," he moves to stand next to Castiel, leaning against the cot and resting his chin on his hand. "I never realized how boring little babies actually were. All he does is eat, sleep, and shit." At Castiel's own snort and rolled eyes, he continues, "The twins were like… five months when I went to live with Tasha."

"My sister - that is, the daughter of my shapeshifter parents, she had… so many children. She seemed to take multiple births to a whole other level," Castiel's smiling, but it's sad, and Dean's chest clenches.

"What happened to your family, Cas? You never mention them."

Castiel rests his elbow on the arm of the chair, reaching up to tug at his earlobe. It's a strange tick he's only just started, since becoming an angel again, and Dean still can't figure out why he does it. "Our parents died when I was nine. I was the youngest by about ten years, and my siblings raised me. Balthazar was the eldest, he was kind of a dick, but he did his best. He was twenty years older than I was. Anna was the one with eight children, she was fifteen years older than I was. Benjamin - I don't remember a lot about Benjamin, he died with our parents." When he looks down at the sleeping baby in his arms, he realizes he's asleep and stands to place him gently into the crib. "Balthazar, Anna, and Anna's family died the week before I turned twenty."

They both carefully back away from the sleeping baby, and only speak again when they've climbed onto the bed, sitting next to each other against the headboard. "How did it happen?"

Castiel crosses his arms over his chest, then crosses his legs at the ankles, humming. "Benjamin and my parents were killed at the hands of other shapeshifters, over territory. It was bad, but compared to what the Men of Letters have done to our people? Nothing." He's leaning back awkwardly, back curved in a way that is no doubt uncomfortable, but Castiel doesn't move. In fact, he's so still Dean could almost mistake him for a statue. "Anna and Balthazar died the day I discovered I existed as an angel before I fell. When the Men of Letters stole my Grace." At Dean's confused head tilt Castiel explains. "When an angel falls on purpose, their Grace falls with them but doesn't stay in their new vessels - bodies. It sort of looks like a meteorite falling to earth? When it lands it enriches its surroundings, rather than destroying it as a meteorite would. I've known of Grace-created trees, an oasis in the desert, lakes. The field in where my Grace landed sprouted a large naturally occurring patch of lavender. When I was a kid I felt this strong connection to the field but I didn't know why until I discovered what I was."

"How did you? Learn who you were, I mean."

"When the Men of Letters extracted my Grace from the soil of the lavender patch I felt it. My memories as an angel came rushing back to me. I don't know why a human touching my Grace triggered it, angels still know nothing of their own beings, God - he's been gone for a long time." Castiel wiggles until he's sitting up more comfortably and peers across the room at the baby asleep in the cot. Jack's snoring and Dean still can't get over how that's a thing; he's so little he shouldn't be able to make a noise that loud. "He didn't tell the angels a lot about their own beings. Once he left the angels discovered everything about themselves through trial and error.” He looks reserved, and Dean supposes he's had thousands of years to come to terms with his whole 'deadbeat dad' situation. Far longer than most children get. "Anyway-"

Dean leans over and takes Castiel's face in his hand, sliding his fingers through the hair behind Castiel's ear, pressing their mouths together in a gentle kiss. Dean intends to leave it at that, but Castiel has other ideas, and he curls his fist in Dean's shirt, pulling the werewolf into his body. Dean lands in Castiel's lap and flattens his hands against the headboard on either side of Castiel's head to steady himself before he almost falls off the side of the bed and crashes to the floor. He muffles a laugh in Castiel's hair and says, "We're not making out."

"I disagree, we are absolutely making out," Castiel replies, the hand that's not in Dean's shirt reaching up to thread through his hair, pulling him back so he can kiss him again. Castiel's teeth graze over the flesh of Dean's bottom lip, and Dean groans, hand sliding up to grasp at the top of the headboard tightly. Castiel's hard already, Dean can feel it against his thigh, and in any other normal situation they would both be naked already and Castiel would already have three fingers inside Dean, but- 

"Cas, stop," Dean says, though his words are shaky and he really wants to beg Castiel for more.

Castiel noses along Dean's throat and hums against the skin under Dean's ear, sending a shiver down his spine. "I promise to be quiet."

Dean rolls his eyes, tilting his head back to give Castiel more room. "It's not you I'm worried about."

Dean stops fighting when Castiel's hand slides into his briefs and wraps around the hard length of his cock. Dean's entire body grows almost too warm and he manages to get one of his hands over his mouth to muffle the loud groan before it comes out. His hips jerk up into the circle of Castiel's fist a few times before Castiel - the bastard - pulls his hand out and reaches over to the bedside table, opening the drawer. Dean hates him a little less when he pulls out the lube, slicks his hand, then slides it back into Dean's briefs. 

Castiel's now-slick hand circles Dean's cock again and squeezes as he strokes up, then his palm slides over the head and Dean drops his head into Castiel's shoulder to muffle his groan. It’s warm and wet and so fucking _hot_ , and Dean thinks he might explode. “ _Cas_ ,” he whimpers, pressing a sloppy, open-mouthed kiss to Castiel’s pale shoulder, scraping the enamel of his teeth against the joint. He tries to thrust his hips up into Castiel’s hand, but the angel has a strong hand around his thigh keeping him down. He’s so strong, and Dean’s not used to anyone being stronger than he is, but he’s pretty sure he’s obsessed with it.

“Fuck, Dean,” Castiel groans, hips grinding up into Dean’s almost imperceptibly, the shape of his hard cock ghosting against Dean's thigh. Dean presses a sharp grin into Castiel's shoulder and grinds down harder for him, tasting Castiel's pulse under his tongue and shivering at the reverberated groan in Castiel's throat. 

Jack makes a noise across the room, a sleepy mumble, and they both freeze, staring at each other with wide eyes before they both turn to look at him simultaneously. He's still asleep, face turned towards the wall, one arm out of the muslin and they both turn back to each other. Dean presses his forehead to Castiel's and huffs out a quiet laugh, whispering, "C'mon, go faster."

Castiel jerks Dean with a renewed fervour, hand tight and fast as Dean grinds down onto him. Dean comes first, chin tucked over Castiel's shoulder, groaning Castiel's name into the angel's ear. Castiel comes when Dean gets his hand in Castiel's pants to stroke his cock.

With a rush of Castiel's angelic power they're suddenly clean and Dean collapses back onto the bed, knees bent awkwardly around Castiel's legs, and huffs out another quiet laugh, panting for breath. He flings an arm over his eyes and moves his legs away from Castiel (without kicking him in the face), planting one foot on the headboard, the other leg flung out over the side of the bed. 

"We're not doing that with him in the room again."

Castiel snorts, and it's loud enough that Jack snuffles and wriggles before settling again. He settles down next to Dean, staring over at him with a look in his eyes Dean can't decipher. The look clears suddenly and he smiles at Dean gently, saying, "Perhaps that's a good idea."

Dean presses a gentle kiss to Castiel's shoulder before closing his eyes and tucking his face into the crook of Castiel's neck.

-*-*-

When Dean wakes he’s groggy and nauseous, with an ache in his head that feels like it might split his skull in half and a _wrong_ feeling building in his gut. He slaps his hand on the other side of the bed, searching for Castiel, and hits his body with a heavy thump.

“Cas,” he slurs, eyelids too difficult open despite how hard he tries. “Castiel, wake up.”

“Dean?” Castiel replies, sounding just as groggy and out of it as Dean. It’s what clears the fog in Dean’s head enough for him to sit up, clutching at his head. “Was’appenin?”

Dean stumbles his way out of bed, sliding his hand against the wall as he approaches Jack’s cot. He feels unsteady and dizzy, and his vision is blurry as he reaches for the blanket in the cot with a shaky hand, pulling it aside.

“Castiel! Wake up!”

Castiel jerks up in bed, blinking blearily at Dean before realization dawns on him. He’s out of the bed faster than Dean was, and far more alert than Dean is still capable of. 

“What the hell is wrong with us?” Dean asks, stumbling back to the bed before he collapses, falling onto the mattress with a grunt. He feels like his mind is made of cotton wool and his body is made of jelly. He’s either been spelled or drugged and neither is good.

Castiel leans over and presses two fingers to Dean’s forehead. He’s unable to completely heal him, but Dean feels far less like he might vomit. He thanks Castiel, who then speaks, “It was a spell. If it was powerful enough to affect me, even if only momentarily, it was cast by an extremely powerful witch. Far more powerful than Rowena is.”

“I thought Rowena was the most powerful witch on earth?”

Castiel purses his lips. “As did I.” He takes his fingers away from Dean’s forehead and goes for the door, only stopping when Dean calls out to him, to ask him what he’s doing. “I have to check on the others. I have to see if my brother was affected.”

“Cas, we have to find Jack!”

Castiel comes back to Dean and leans down to press a gentle kiss to Dean’s hair. “We will, we will. We will need Gabriel’s help. Wait here, you’re still not fully healed.”

Dean stands, intending to completely ignore him and follow, but his head spins, and he willingly goes when Castiel sits him back down. He tucks his head between his knees and tries to breathe, completely out of sorts, all of his heightened senses dulled.

He doesn’t know how long he waits. It feels like hours, but is probably only mere minutes, before finally, Castiel’s in front of him again, Gabriel, Sam, and Rowena by his side. Besides Castiel, Gabriel is the only one who looks like he hasn’t been affected. Sam and Rowena sit on either side of Dean.

“The humans?”

“Still unconscious. Gabriel has healed them, but we were unable to wake them,” Castiel tells him, brow furrowed. “I found Gabriel in a Holy Oil trap, the spell must not have been powerful enough to work on an archangel.”

"How did they get in? I thought the angel and demon proofing would keep them out."

Castiel's face contorts into a grimace and he scrubs a hand down his cheek, scratching at the stubble growing at his jaw. Dean still can't get over the fact that angels can _grow_ stubble. "As did I."

"How the hell are we going to find Jack, where do we even start?" Sam asks, voice drowsy. Dean's starting to get his enhanced senses back, and his brother smells almost unbearable, like rotting leaves in the rainy season and wet earth. They're smells that have always comforted him, the smell of the forest, and recently the smell of his brother, but now the smell makes him feel like he might gag. Underneath that putrid smell, Dean can distinguish his emotions, but only just: fear, anger, worry. 

"I can't feel him. He's either off-world, or he's hidden himself very well," Gabriel admits, shrugging his shoulders almost nonchalantly.

It occurs to Dean then that if Lucifer managed to get through powerful celestial warding, he had help doing so. Help on the _inside_. Out of the two celestial beings in the house, Gabriel is the only one Dean hasn't known long enough to trust. Dean catches Castiel's eyes and carefully tilts his head to the side, blinking at Gabriel so quickly he worries Castiel won't have seen it. The angel frowns and Dean doesn't bother elaborating, at least for now.

Rowena lifts her head and something flashes behind her eyes. "I have an idea, but it's rather ridiculous." They all turn to her and she grimaces. "We need to - well for lack of a better term, we need to hunt him. We need a hunter." Dean goes to very loudly and very vigorously disagree, as do Castiel and Sam, mouths open comically before she cuts them off with a wave of her hand. Dean's not entirely sure she hasn't cast a spell to quiet them. "I think we need to resurrect Bobby Singer."

"Are you _fucking_ insane?" Dean cries, climbing to his feet. This time he manages to push through the dizziness and he's glad, he needs to be clear-headed for this. "You want to _resurrect_ a dead MoL? _Rowena_."

Castiel puts a careful hand on Dean's shoulder to calm him and Dean feels his shoulders droop. He's still furious, and more than a little terrified, but having Castiel next to him, touching him, is helping. "I agree with Rowena."

" _Castiel_!"

"Bobby Singer can give us insights into hunting angels, archangels, and demons that we won't be able to discover on our own. He is our best chance at finding Jack."

At the mention of Jack, Dean deflates like a balloon, falling onto the bed again between Sam and Rowena, head in his hands. Gods, fuck. Lucifer knocked an entire house of supernatural creatures unconscious and took Jack. Jack was _gone_ , and they had to get him back. Soon. Dean's chest feels too tight and his eyes sting behind his eyelids. When he composes himself he lifts his head and stares at Castiel, then at Rowena, determined. "Fine. We resurrect Bobby Singer and we get my fucking _kid_ back."

-*-*-

Dean's pretty sure the plan is even more insane than the idea itself, especially since it relies on Gabriel pretty heavily, and Dean's still not entirely sure he trusts him. Like, at all.

Gabriel has to obscure himself and Castiel from prying angel senses before the two can go into Bobby Singer's personal heaven and retrieve his soul. They then have to sneak the soul out of heaven and put it back into Bobby's body. There are so many cracks in the plan, and it doesn't even account for the possibility of Michael or Raphael sensing them. It worries the fuck out of Dean.

What worries Dean more is that they have to go back to Sioux Falls, despite the risks the Men of Letters still pose, just long enough to dig Bobby Singer out of his _fucking grave_. Dean's done a lot of terrible things in his life, but the thought of disturbing someone's final rest is pretty fucking horrible.

When the angel and archangel have left, Rowena creates a portal for the others and sends them to Luxembourg to wait, then another for Dean, Sam, and herself to Sioux Falls, to Saint Michael's Cemetery (which is ironic, to say the least). 

It looks like every other cemetery Dean's ever been to (though there haven't been a lot), short stubby grave-stones, tall statues, and huge, hulking vaults. Even in the bright moonlight, the place is dark, trees towering over everything, filling the area with dark shadows that look like skeletal arms reaching out for them. Other than a vague direction, they don't know exactly where Bobby Singer's grave stands, so their first ten minutes in the cemetery is spent scouring the area around the statue of a small girl with angel wings, covered in dark green moss. Sam finds it first - a plain black tombstone with Bobby's name, his birth year, and death date - calls Dean and Rowena over.

Rowena kneels at the foot of the grave and splits the earth under her palms with a deep, loud rumble, like an earthquake. As she stands she raises her hand and the casket inside the grave raises with it, settling onto the grass next to the hole in the earth.

"And now we wait," Rowena says, wiping the dirt from her hands and dress.

"And now we wait," Dean agrees. 

He walks to the nearest tree and drops down to sit against it, kicking a leg up and planting his foot in the dirt. He sits his arm over his knee and rests his chin on top of it, staring over at Rowena and Sam. They're talking in hushed whispers, so quiet Dean can't even hear them with his enhanced senses. 

They wait for ten minutes, then thirty, then an hour, and Dean's starting to worry something's gone wrong until finally, a flap of wings brings Castiel and Gabriel. Dean climbs to his feet when he sees Castiel stumble, reaching out to hold him upright and check him for injuries. He's bleeding from a cut on his cheek, most likely from an angel blade, and Dean inspects it carefully.

He's about to ask if Castiel's alright when he hears a sharp intake of breath from the coffin, then a litany of coughs before the lid is swinging open forcefully and landing with a loud bang. An older man with a thick beard wearing a ratty trucker cap and a black suit sits up in the opening, hitting his chest with his fist as he continues to cough.

"Smells like death in there," Bobby Singer says once he stops hacking. He looks up at the people around him, frowning. "Anyone gonna help me outta here?" Sam takes the man's hand and helps him out of his coffin, setting him onto his feet in the grass. "So, which one of you idjits decided to interrupt my eternal rest?"

"Hello, dear," Rowena greets as she appears beside him. To Dean's surprise, the man pulls her into a tight hug. "Alright, alright. We need your help."

"Well go on, then, I don't got all day," Bobby tells her when he takes a step back, arms dropping away and landing at his sides. 

As Rowena explains the plan, Dean takes his chance to observe Bobby Singer. He's sure he's never met the man before, but his face is so familiar, and Dean could swear he's heard his voice before, but he can't place it. He seems almost kindly, though, despite what Dean knows of his history, like an old uncle. It's a weird feeling. 

"Right, can we get out of Sioux Falls before the Men of Letters rain all kinds of crap down on our heads?" Dean interrupts when he feels the conversation between Rowena and Bobby coming to a close. The two turn to look at him and Bobby tilts his head with a confused frown. It's so similar to Castiel's that Dean has to push down a laugh. "What?"

Bobby shakes his head, as if shaking out whatever thought had been on his mind. "Nothing, boy. Where we goin'?"

Castiel and Gabriel transport them to Luxembourg, into a large sitting room where Jody, Donna, Alex, Claire, Patience, Kaia, and Crowley are waiting. It's a tearful reunion between Bobby and the women, and despite how much Bobby tries to pretend he's not relieved to see them all, he lets them each give him a tight hug and tries to hide the shine in his eyes. 

Dean and Castiel leave them to it, finding the bedroom with their things sitting on the bed. Dean tells Castiel to sit down and is about to go find a cloth to clean the angel's wound, only to be stopped by a bright, shining light emanating from the cut. When it clears, the cut is healed. "Why didn't you just do that earlier?" 

"I can't instantly heal wounds made from angel blades," Castiel replies. "I heard you after Jack was taken. You don't trust my brother."

"You were listening to my thoughts?" Dean asks, crossing his arms over his chest and pursing his lips, unimpressed. 

"You and I share a profound bond, if you think of something deeply enough, for long enough, I find it impossible to keep your thoughts out."

"Profound bond, huh?" Dean lets his arms drop to his sides and lets out a short amused breath, falling onto the bed next to Castiel. He rests his elbows on his knees and props his chin up with his hands, staring at the door across the room from where they sit. "Someone broke the archangel and demon proofing, Cas. Someone inside the house. Someone with enough knowledge to know how to. The only two in the house who knew how to break the archangel warding were you and Gabriel, and I know it wasn't you."

Castiel shoots Dean a very intense look and says, "I trust my brother, Dean. He spent hundreds of years hiding from our brothers and sisters, I highly doubt he would have fallen in with Lucifer."

"Just… keep an eye on him, okay? Right now I don't think we can trust anyone."

Castiel nods.

-*-*-

Bobby starts the search on a computer Rowena procures for him by looking for demonic omens. He explains to them that freak electric storms, animal mutilations, crop failures, unusual migrating patterns, sudden earthquakes without fault lines, and unusual seasonal patterns are all signs of demonic activity. He spends five hours searching with no luck, then stops when Jody's finished lunch.

The feeling in Dean's gut that he knows Bobby from somewhere hasn't gone away. In fact, the longer he spends time with the man, the stronger it gets. The way he talks, his mannerisms, that stupid ratty cap. Dean can't get it out of his mind. 

He takes Bobby aside after lunch, before he goes back to the computer and asks, "Do we know each other?"

Bobby gives Dean a considering look, scratching at his cheek, over the stubble of his beard. "What was your name again?" Dean gives it to him. "Dean, Dean," the man hums thoughtfully, and Dean watches as it suddenly clicks for him, realization dawning on Bobby like a lightbulb turning on in his mind. He suddenly smells like surprise, worry, and fear. "You a were, boy?" Dean nods. "Back in the day when I was working for the Men of Letters, I was sent out with a group of hunters to a werewolf community in Lawrence, Kansas. At the time I weren't sure if they'd sent me as a punishment or a babysitter. They'd hit them ten years before, but they hadn't wiped 'em out, so we were sent back to clean up the mess. I'd followed two hunters into a house. There was a woman hiding in a closet with a kid and a baby, I found her first." He pauses for so long Dean's almost sure he isn't going to continue, and he's about to open his mouth to urge him on. "When I said I thought I was being punished, it's 'cause some kids they had locked up in the dungeon escaped on my watch. Barely girls. It's when I lost faith in the mission. Kids made it hard."

Dean chews on his bottom lip. "What happened, with the woman and the kids?"

"I hid the two boys in a house the hunters had already gone through, then called some people to come get them. I called a witch, told them to take the boy's memories. It's why you can't remember the night you lost your family."

Dean sucks in a breath. Tasha had convinced him it was trauma, had she taken his memories of that night? Was Dean really the kid Bobby saved? "The witch, what was her name?"

"Tasha Banes."

Dean leans back against the wall, feeling a bit dizzy. "And the baby? What was his name, where did he go?"

"I sent Adam to live with a psychic, I thought it would be safer if the two of you were apart," Bobby looks almost apologetic. "Last I heard they'd gotten her, but nothing about Adam."

"Son of a bitch," Dean swears, shaking his head. "Son of a bitch." He pushes away from the wall and leaves Bobby without another word, searching the house for Castiel. He finds the angel out on one of the balconies, sitting with his legs crossed and his eyes closed. "Cas, man, I gotta talk to you. Can you tune out of angel radio for five minutes?"

Castiel blinks his eyes open and looks over at Dean, raising an eyebrow.

Dean falls into the lounge on the balcony and sets his elbow on his knee, taking his chin in his hand and frowning. "Could you find someone, anywhere in the world? Even if you hadn't met them, and you had no idea where they were?"

"Realistically? Probably not," Castiel answers, looking thoughtfully up into the sky, shading his eyes from the bright midday sun. Dean thinks he could probably stare straight at the sun if he wanted to, and shielding his eyes from it is probably a leftover gesture from his time as a mortal being. "Perhaps if I've met them? Otherwise, Gabriel would have an easier time. Who is it?"

"Look, I don't know how true it is, but Bobby claims he's the one who called Tasha, and that he did the same for my brother, Adam," Dean lets out a huff of breath and wipes his face with his hands, hard, until his skin tingles. "He claims Adam is alive." Dean shakes his head and says, "We need to find Jack, first. This is the worst fucking timing." Castiel gets to his feet fluidly and strides over to Dean, sitting on the lounge next to him and sliding his hand over Dean's knee. He squeezes it comfortingly, and Dean thinks he's going to say something, but he doesn't, so Dean takes the chance to rant. "We've chosen to trust too many people that could fuck us over if we let them, Cas. When Bobby finds Lucifer, we can't take anyone but Rowena and Sam, I'm not risking Jack like that."

"I'm not sure the four of us will be enough, Dean."

"I don't trust Gabriel, Cas, and I don't trust Crowley, and we can't put the humans in danger. We've already put them in too much," Dean shakes his head and lets it fall into his hands, sighing heavily. "We have to get him back, Cas. We promised Kelly - I promised I would look after him."

Castiel doesn't speak, instead, he squeezes Dean's knee again. Dean scrubs at his suspiciously stinging eyes with the heels of his palms and lets out a sharp breath of air. Once he's decided he's composed himself enough to go back inside, he pats Castiel's hand and climbs to his feet. He stands in front of Castiel and reaches out to take his cheek in his hand, stroking over his cheekbone.

He's about to lean down and press a kiss to Castiel's mouth and ask him to tell him if he hears anything from angel radio when Sam bursts through the door.

"Bobby's found him."

-*-*-

The first signs in Toledo, Ohio are a sudden mid-80's heatwave in February, then a freak electrical storm that wipes out the power grid for twelve hours, followed by the largest crop failure in the midwest since the early twentieth century. More recently, a foal is born with two heads and a sudden outbreak of measles is discovered in the city, but none of them can decide if the epidemic is a demonic omen or due to human stupidity.

"Why Toledo?" Sam asks as they surround Bobby, staring down at the laptop. "And why wouldn't he just take Jack down to hell."

"As an infant, Jack hasn't come into his powers yet, it's likely that taking him into hell would kill him," Castiel answers. "Thank you for your assistance, Bobby."

Bobby shrugs and turns back to the laptop. "If you give me a little longer, I could probably give ya an exact location."

Castiel nods and Bobby goes back to typing. Dean pulls Castiel, Rowena, and Sam into the kitchen, shuts the door behind them and says, "Right, anyone got any ideas, cause I don't think guns blazing is going to work."

"He'll have put warding up to protect the place from Castiel and Gabriel, and he'll most likely have any demons left guarding the building," Rowena starts, staring thoughtfully at the kitchen window as she strokes her bottom lip with her thumb. "We'll need distractions for the guards, and then a human will need to enter and remove the warding."

"I don't want to involve them any more than we already have," Dean says, then, "But he'll have warded it against us as well. So Donna, Claire, and Jody? And what about this witch? We still don't know who it is, how can we fight them if we don't know who we're fighting?"

Rowena taps her finger over her lip. "Power comes with age, it's likely this witch is incredibly old and has no problem working with demons." She suddenly stops and her mouth turns down into a frown. "You know the story of Little Briar Rose - Sleeping Beauty? The sleeping curse? It was based on medieval prose, Perceforest, which was in turn based on the story of Endymion, a mortal man who fell in love with the goddess Selene. According to legend, Selene asked Zeus to grant Endymion eternal life, but Zeus instead put the man into an eternal sleep."

Dean frowns and holds his hand up to stop her from continuing. "Wait, you can't be saying it was Zeus because that would be fucking insane."

Rowena shoots him a look. "If you'd have let me finish I would have told you that the legend was wrong. Zeus didn't put Endymion under the sleeping curse, Selene did. For the last three thousand years, Selene has been dead, but the daughters she had to Endymion while under the sleeping curse are still alive. It's likely she handed the spell to them in case he were to ever wake." She suddenly grimaces and says, "As far as I'm aware, Endymion is still under the sleeping curse. And the story of Lot's daughters in Genesis is based on him."

Castiel also grimaces, and despite the fact Dean has no idea what they're talking about he doesn't bother to ask. "So you think one of Endymion's daughters is the witch working with Lucifer?"

Rowena nods her head and lets her arms fall to her sides, the grimace still on her face. "Selene and Endymion had fifty daughters, but by the seventeenth century, when I first came across one, there were only eight left; Sofia, Zoe, Eliana, Alexis, Evangeline, Daphne, Maia, and Dorothea. I don't think it's Sofia, that girl doesn't have the brains that God gave geese." She stops and looks up at them thoughtfully. "You know, Sofia might be our solution, she might just be stupid enough to give up her sister."

Dean shoots her a doubtful look but nods her off when she goes to contact the witch, leaving Dean, Castiel, and Sam in the kitchen. 

"Hey, Sammy-"

Sam makes a face and says, “Sammy is a chubby twelve-year-old. It’s Sam.”

"Whatever, do me a favour and keep an eye on your boyfriend for me?" Sam pinches the bridge of his nose and Dean shoots Castiel a cheeky grin. Despite missing out on decades together as brothers, Dean can still annoy Sam like only older brothers can, and it delights him to no end. "I don't trust him."

Sam frowns suspiciously at Dean. "Okay… why?"

"Someone had to let Lucifer in, someone who knew how to remove celestial warding," Dean tells him, turning to look at Castiel. "And I trust Castiel far more than I trust Gabriel."

"Dude, did you ever stop to think it might have been Crowley?" Sam asks, shooting Dean a look that screams _are you stupid?_ "Before the Men of Letters locked him up, he willingly went to them. And he's being crazy shifty." Dean gives his brother a suspicious frown, screwing up his mouth. He hadn't noticed Crowley being shifty, but then again. "You and Cas wouldn't know what's going on around you if the house were on fire. You have an extremely unhealthy attachment to each other, and it was worse with Jack."

"We do no-" 

Sam gives Dean his best bitchface, which Dean is starting to suspect is his natural resting expression. He raises his eyebrow and interrupts Castiel by saying, "It's kinda creepy." Dean opens his mouth to speak, but when no words come out, Sam, the bastard, looks smug. "I'm going to go see if Rowena needs any help."

Dean tries to speak again, holding his hand up to stop his brother, but Sam's gone before he can get a word out, following Rowena out the door onto the courtyard. Instead, he turns to Castiel and says, "We're not creepy. Right?"

Castiel shrugs and makes a gesture that sort of seems like _kinda_ and Dean hates him.

"We are not creepy."

"It's probably the eye-fucking across the room and the semi-public sex." Castiel decides before leaving Dean alone in the kitchen with his jaw practically on the floor.

-*-*-

During Rowena's phone call with Sofia, their list of possible witch suspects gets narrowed down to two sisters, Evangeline and Dorothea. When Rowena tells Dean that Evangeline is the first-born, and has worked with demons in the past, Dean puts his money on her.

"So how do we trap her?" Dean asks as the four of them again stand in the kitchen, this time with Gabriel. "Or kill her, I really don't care at this point."

"We could summon her, trap her - yes, or kill her," Rowena sighs and leans back against the counter. If Dean didn't know any better, he'd say she looked petulant. "She's extremely powerful and I'm going to need help. I need Claire to contact the Grand Coven."

Sam makes a face, and Dean suddenly feels like there's something going on that Dean doesn't know about. So he asks, "What?"

Rowena rolls her head on her neck to look at Dean almost lazily and says, "Olivette, the bitch, kicked me out of the Grand Coven because my magic was ' _dangerous and forceful_ '. Of course, it had far more to do with me conceiving a child with a human. Fucking bigots."

"Crowley?"

"Yes, he's the son of a long-dead nobleman. Lovely prick told me he loved me then left me half dead and bleeding on a straw mat. I was young and naive, and it's not important now," Rowena waves her hand dismissively. "Olivette is a wretched bitch, and know I would only have Claire call her if we had no other option."

"Okay, so we have a plan, then?" Sam asks. "Rowena and the Grand Coven summon the witch, the humans take down the angel proofing and we go in? Ah, fuck," he says suddenly, slapping a hand to his face so hard Dean has no doubt it had to hurt. "How do we get the humans out once they've broken the wards? And how do we get out when we're done?"

Dean turns to Castiel and Gabriel, takes a deep breath, and says, "Are there any angels you trust not to go to Michael?"

"Samandriel," Castiel says, as Gabriel says, "Muriel."

"Okay, call them both," Dean tells them. "But first we have to decide what we're going to do with Lucifer, because you know he'll just keep coming back for Jack."

They all go quiet for a long time, staring at each other, until finally, Gabriel says, "The Cage."

Castiel turns very suddenly to the archangel with wide eyes, shaking his head vigorously. "No," he hisses. "We can't wake them."

"I'm not suggesting we wake them, Castiel," Gabriel replies, also in a hiss. "I'm not suggesting we involve them at all."

Castiel blinks a few times, confused and staring owlishly at the archangel. Dean has no idea what they're talking about, and he really wants to ask, but before he can, understanding has washed over Castiel's features, and his wide eyes go even wider. "That's far more dangerous, Gabriel."

They begin to argue in Enochian, and Dean rolls his eyes, catching Rowena and Sam's eyes and making a face, which they answer in kind. Gabriel ends the conversation abruptly and stares at Castiel with squinted eyes for a little longer before he turns to Dean and the others. He opens his mouth to say something, then closes it again, before hissing something to Castiel again.

"There's a cage, in hell. God made it to imprison Lucifer after his uprising. There are two ways to banish him to the cage. The first is to collect the rings of the Four Horsemen," Dean goes to interrupt, to ask him if he really means the actual _four horseman_ , as in the biblical apocalypse, but Gabriel waves a hand dismissively. "Which we aren't going to do. The second is an extremely difficult spell that requires Lucifer to be without a vessel. It's just as hard but in a completely different way. There is a third option, but it's slightly more impossible."

When it doesn't look like Gabriel has any plans to continue, no intention to explain what the third option is, Castiel continues for him. "A Ma'lak Box. It's a coffin warded with sigils powerful enough to hold an archangel. The instructions to make the box, however? Missing for centuries. Theoretically, someone still holds the instructions, but-"

"It's one of the Four Horsemen," Gabriel interrupts. "Death."

Dean feels a bit dizzy. He's had way too much information stuffed into his head in the last few months, and learning that the Four Horsemen and Death are real things make his head feel like it's full of cotton wool. He takes a seat at the kitchen table and braces his elbow on the surface, fitting his chin in his palm, sighing heavily. "My brain is fried, I need a drink." A bottle of whiskey appears in front of Dean, and he's not entirely sure who put it there, but he's grateful, and he thanks the room as he unscrews the lid. He takes a swig from the bottle and hands it over to Rowena when she takes a seat next to him. "So the spell, how do we do it?"

"We need to weaken Lucifer enough to banish him from his vessel and send him back into the cage," Castiel says, before turning to look at Rowena. "The spells are held in The Book of the Damned."

"Well, at least something's easy."

"Can Rowena do the spells from here? After she and the Coven have trapped the witch?" Sam asks, worrying at his bottom lip. "Or does she have to be in the room with him?" 

"Eh," Gabriel says, shaking his hand in a _maybe_ sort of gesture, mouth twisted into a grimace. "I mean, she probably could, but the timing would be difficult without being able to see Lucifer," he turns to Rowena with almost-gentle eyes and says, "It's up to you."

"I don't trust the Coven by themselves, and I don't trust my son to watch them. The humans won't be strong enough," Rowena tells them, shaking her head, a glass appearing in front of her with a flick of her wrist. She pours herself some whiskey and taps at the glass with her nails before she drinks it. "I'll do my best. Plan B, you come back here and he'll follow you, and I'll do it then."

"So we're putting Lucifer in the Cage?"

"Guess so."

-*-*-

Rowena sends Dean and Castiel off with a list of ingredients to collect, and Dean is again reminded of how disgusting witch spells are. The first is the liver of a feral black chicken (which, lucky him, he gets to cut out himself), blood meal (they can apparently get blood meal at any nursery because it's used as a soil supplement, which is disgusting), a fillet of fenny snake (Dean decides not to ask Rowena to explain that one) and ten teeth from the corpse of someone killed by the Black Plague (Dean would really rather not go near someone who died of the plague, but Castiel assured him that he can't catch anything from a corpse). They also have to collect the talons from a raven (which makes Castiel frown), the gallbladder of a goat, a lock of hair from a person murdered for witchcraft (are people ever murdered for witchcraft anymore?) and two Nile crocodile hearts. Some other ingredients - like demonic sulfur, myrrh resin, the cones of a Mediterranean Cyprus, a dead Macedonian Grayling butterfly and fresh ague root - are going to be harder to find (though not necessarily impossible), and far less disgusting. The last ones are pretty simple - like corncockle flowers, rock salt, dill seeds, St John's-Wort leaves, and carnation roots - and for the ones they can't find in a grocery store, they'll be able to find growing in most places in North America.

Castiel transports them to Macedonia, for the Cyprus cones, the butterfly and the teeth, while explaining to Dean that he might have to sniff out the corpses before they dig them up.

"Gross, why?"

"Because I may not necessarily be able to sense it," Castiel side-eyes him, an amused smile on his face as Dean takes in their surroundings. They're in a patch of Cyprus trees next to a small lake gone green from algae. There are a few houses on the other side of the lake, mostly hidden by trees, and a little girl playing with a toy truck on the bank. She looks up at them, tilting her head to the side in confusion, before shrugging to herself and going back to playing. "You get the cones, I'll see if I can find a butterfly."

Dean takes one of the pouches out of the bag Rowena had given them and turns to the trees. Rowena hadn't given them a specific amount, so he fits as much as he can in the pouch before tying it and putting it back in the bag. When he looks up, Castiel, the idiot, is very slowly prowling a butterfly as it flies around the edge of the pond. He tries very hard not to laugh, before seeing if he can sniff out a butterfly that's already dead so Castiel doesn't have to kill the one he's set his sights on. He feels a bit like a bloodhound when he does this, which is an extremely amusing thought, and he's not quite sure why. 

He finds one behind a large boulder a few feet from the patch of Cyprus and he picks it up, careful not to damage it in any way. It's beautiful, despite the fact it mostly looks like a moth, with big yellow eyes on its wings to scare away predators and light grey veins. He's not positive it's the right one, so he shows it to Castiel before he puts it in another pouch when the angel nods. 

"Now the teeth?" Dean asks him, making a disgusted face. Castiel inclines his head in confirmation, and with a hand on Dean's elbow and the sound of flapping wings, they move on.

When Dean opens his eyes on a blink they're in a large field filled with bright yellow sunflowers that have grown close to Dean's height, stretching up towards the sun. He reaches up to brush his fingers against one of them. He'd never admit it to anyone, but sunflowers are his favourite. 

"Where are we?"

"Pelagonia, an hour west of Bitola," Castiel replies, eyes scanning the field. "There was a village here in 1056 that was destroyed by fire after it was ravaged by plague. The bodies were buried in a mass grave that hasn't yet been uncovered by archaeologists." He looks like he's concentrating really hard, probably to see if he can sense the bodies. He gives up eventually and dejectedly asks, "Can you smell the bodies?"

Dean takes a deep breath in through his nose, and yes, he can smell it. A strong smell of old death that only comes from a large number of bodies. A thousand years old and Dean can still smell them; he surprises even himself sometimes. Castiel follows behind him as he goes after the smell to find it where it's strongest. 

"Here," he tells Castiel, pointing at the ground beneath their feet. It seems like any other part of the field, with tall sunflowers and rich earth, but deep below the surface, through layers of dirt, Dean can smell death, like burnt wood and old bones. 

His head swims very suddenly, and he gets this weird sort of feeling, like déjà vu. He remembers a field, just like this, smouldering after the remnants of a fire had been burnt out, bodies of friends and family. He stumbles back and Castiel takes his elbow to steady him, calling his name. Dean can barely hear it, like through water, like he's swimming in an icy lake and he's struggling to surface. He curves his arm around Castiel's shoulders and presses his face into the angel's throat to scent him, to breathe in the autumnal forest and the winter sunshine and all that shining angelic power. It helps, and eventually, Dean stops feeling like his heart might claw its way out of his throat. He breathes through his mouth as he pulls away, determined not to fall back into that awful memory.

"Are you alright?" Castiel asks gently, hand still on Dean's elbow.

"Yeah, fine. Can we get on with it?"

Castiel looks unsure, but nods nevertheless and releases Dean. He miracles the earth parted between them until skeletons are revealed in the crater he's created. Some of them are so small and Dean feels breathless for a whole other reason. He pushes through it and climbs down into the hole, still breathing through his nose as he chooses a larger skeleton (just so he doesn't have to look at the tiny ones huddled together).

"Pouch?" Dean asks, holding his hand out, catching the pouch when Castiel throws one down to him. Dean thanks him and crouches over the bones, reaching for the skull. The teeth are surprisingly easy to remove, just a twist and a tug, and he does it methodically, _twist, tug, pouch, twist, tug, pouch_. Finally, when he has ten he ties the pouch carefully and whispers, low so Castiel won't hear him, "I'm sorry."

He climbs out of the mass grave and hands the pouch back to Castiel, watching as he puts it into the back, then snaps his fingers, replacing the earth over the skeletons as if it had never been moved in the first place.

"Can we go?"

Castiel nods takes Dean's elbow again, and they move on.

-*-*-

They take a break in Pennsylvania after they've been to a nursery to pick up the blood meal, corncockle, dill seeds, carnations, and St John's Wort. They find a diner off Route 15 just as the sun's beginning to set and Dean orders a steak-and-fries and a bacon-chicken burger. When the waitress asks Castiel for his order after she’s made a face at Dean’s two full meals, the angel grimaces and shakes his head. The poor waitress wanders away with the most confused expression on her face, and Dean tries not to laugh.

“Do you miss eating?” Dean asks Castiel, playing with the knife and fork in front of him, his chin braced on his upturned hand. He's trying not to yawn, but not very hard, and it eventually rolls out of his mouth.

“Yes. I miss chocolate. And whiskey,” he smiles at Dean almost conspiratorially, like they share a secret, and in a way, Dean supposes they do. Just because he can, Dean stands up and leans over the table to lay one right on Castiel’s mouth, smiling too wide for it to be anything other than a press of lips. “But it all tastes like particles now. I can’t concentrate on the actual taste of the food when I can’t stop thinking about the cow the beef came from or the ground the tomato grew in. It’s extremely annoying.”

Dean snorts, “I’ll bet.” Dean looks up at Castiel from the fork and says, “Speaking of which, not that it’s really any of my business… but, why haven’t you taken your grace back out yet? It's been months. You said you wanted to stay human." 

"It's hard to carve out your grace, it's painful. Like trying to carve your heart out with a rusty spoon. Can you blame me for not wanting to go through that right now?" Castiel reaches up to take Dean's face in his palm, smiling at him gently. "We've needed the power, Dean. This was born out of necessity, this wasn't born out of want.” His hand drops to Dean’s on the table and curls around it, sighing. “As soon as we don’t need it anymore, it’s gone. I love having free will, I love humanity and I _love you_.”

Dean's heart feels a bit like it might beat out of his chest and he says, "You picked a really bad time to say that."

"What? Why?" Castiel's brow is pulled tight, and his eyes are sad, like he thinks Dean's about to tell him he doesn't feel the same. As if.

Dean grins sharply at the angel and whispers, so quiet only Castiel as another supernatural creature can hear him, "Because my need for food is outweighing my need to climb onto your dick right now. I love you too, you fucking dork." 

Castiel's smile is bright and shining, like the sun finally peeking out from behind the clouds after hours of grey skies. He reaches over and pulls Dean forward by his collar so they meet in the middle, kissing him hard and fast. He really is making it extremely hard for Dean.

"Okay, okay," Dean says with a chuckle, pulling away just as the waitress returns with Dean's steak and burger. "Quit being gross," he tells Castiel before thanking the waitress as she sets the food in front of him.

"I reckon we could get a motel for the night, or at least a few hours, if you wanted to," Castiel says, and Dean almost chokes on a mouthful of fries in his rush to say yes. Castiel's grin widens and he nods.

Dean reaches into his pocket for the money and hands Castiel a ten-dollar bill. At Castiel's confusion, he says, "I'm not a self-stretching, self-lubricating angel, so go get some lube, you dork."

Castiel takes the money and shoves it into his pocket, standing up from the table, leaning over Dean to press his mouth to Dean's forehead before loping away. Dean finishes the fries as fast as he can without making himself sick before asking for a to-go container for the burger and steak while he pays. His hunger for food has taken the back burner to his hunger for Castiel, and he can always eat it afterward. He meets Castiel outside the diner and they find the nearest motel, an ugly red brick place a couple of miles up the highway called _The Stardust Motel_ , which is just about the stupidest thing Dean's ever heard. It's fifty for the night and Dean hands most of what he has left over to the kid behind the counter (who looks barely out of diapers), with just enough left over for what they need from a grocery store. He's handed the key to room 8, and he takes it back out to Castiel who waited for him in the parking lot, grabbing his wrist and dragging him towards their hotel room.

They barely make it inside, and Dean's just set the bag carefully onto the floor, before Castiel is pushing Dean up against the door, slamming it shut behind him and claiming his mouth. Dean gets a hand in the angel's hair and pulls his face to the angle he wants it, so he can kiss him properly and get his tongue into Castiel's mouth. Castiel tastes amazing and Dean dives further in to chase the other man's tongue, pressing his hips against Castiel's. Dean slides his hands from Castiel's hair down to his hips and back up underneath his shirt to paw at his skin. Castiel groans when Dean lightly rakes his nails down his spine and his hips jerk up harshly, pressing into Dean's, making his skin prickle with arousal. 

Dean pulls his mouth from Castiel's to suck in a lungful of oxygen, using the opportunity to push Castiel's shirt further up and over his head. He presses a hand to Castiel's pec and swipes the pad of his thumb over Castiel's nipple, feeling it harden under his touch. The angel groans and curves his hand around Dean's hip, squeezing and holding him there as if Dean would go anywhere else. Dean tugs his own shirt off, throwing it in the general direction of Castiel's before their mouths meet again in a searing kiss. 

The door at Dean's back has a weird pattern with bits that stick out into his ribs and shoulder blades, and it becomes annoying and almost painful pretty quickly, so Dean pushes them back towards the bed. He sits Castiel down on the edge and reaches down to pop open the button of his jeans, pushing his jeans and briefs down his hips, letting them pool at his feet. He has to pull away from Castiel then, to remove his shoes without falling flat on his ass, and Castiel whines his complaint reaching out for Dean like a kid that wants to be picked up.

Once Dean's completely naked, he nudges Castiel over on the bed and climbs up to lie against the pillows, linking his fingers behind his head. "Well come on then."

Castiel rolls his eyes and leans over to no doubt remove his shoes, then stands and gets his pants and briefs off too, leaving him just as naked as Dean. He throws something at Dean, and he only realizes it's the bottle of lube when it hits him square in the chest and bounces off onto the mattress next to him. 

"Okay, ow," Dean says, kicking his leg out to dig his toes into Castiel's hip in retaliation as the angel climbs up onto the bed with him. Castiel sits across Dean's thighs and leans over to kiss him again, clutching Dean's face in his hands. When Castiel trails a line of kisses down Dean's chin, to his throat, Dean hums and says, "Say it again."

Castiel stops, mouth pressed to Dean's skin, but it doesn't take him long to understand, and he smiles widely. "I _love_ you."

Dean feels a bit stupid and giddy, like a teenage girl with her first crush, but he hides it by kissing Castiel again and reaching down to get his hand around Castiel's cock. Castiel presses a groan into Dean's throat and grinds his hips down against Dean's hand, his body so warm and hard against Dean's. Dean swipes over the slit of Castiel's cock and squeezes the head in his palm, delighting in the whine Castiel breathes into the air. "I love you, too." Castiel smiles again, still so bright and shining, and Dean's chest clenches. "Alright, alright, are you going to get your dick in me, or are we going to keep being girls?"

Castiel rolls his eyes and gets between Dean's thighs, searching the sheets beside Dean's hip for the lube. He flicks the cap open and pours some on his fingers, spreading the slick on his skin to warm it as Dean watches with rapt attention. “We’ll deal with your inability to talk about your feelings when we’re not in the middle of sex or in a life or death situation.” Dean goes to say something snide but it’s choked off by a startled whine when Castiel hooks his elbow under Dean’s knee to spread his legs open and teases Dean’s hole with his slick finger. Castiel, the bastard, has the balls to look smug, and Dean really would like to hit him, except he’s sliding his finger inside Dean and Dean decides he doesn’t care all that much as long as Castiel keeps doing that. 

Castiel crooks his finger up, searching for Dean's prostate, finding it with a triumphant hum and stroking it until Dean's body shakes with pleasure. Dean's about to tell him to stop before he does something stupid like come too soon, but Castiel does it without having to be asked, pulling his finger from the clutch of Dean's body and replacing it with two. Without the fear of coming looming over his head like a storm cloud, Dean relaxes into Castiel's fingers, melting back against the mattress and closing his eyes. Castiel really is good with _every part_ of his body, and Dean doesn't get why they don't do this more often.

(Well, okay he does, but he's too distracted to bother thinking about it now.)

Castiel moves onto a third finger, and then finally, when he decides Dean's stretched enough, he removes all three. Dean whines in complaint at the loss, despite how much he wants Castiel's cock in him (and he can't exactly put his cock in Dean with his fingers in him), and Castiel chuckles.

"Shut up," Dean tells him almost breathlessly, then, "Hurry up and get your dick in me or I'll do it myself." That, of course, only makes Castiel laugh harder and Dean wants to hit him again. Instead, he gets an arm around Castiel's neck and tackles him around and onto his back, settling over his thighs with a smug smile. "I win."

Castiel's grinning brightly, but he has the good sense not to laugh again, and Dean shuffles forward so he's kneeling over Castiel's belly then finds the lube in the sheets. He squirts a glob of it on his hand and reaches back to take Castiel's cock into his hand, slicking it with the lube before holding it up and bracing it so he can slide down onto it.

"Fuck, Dean," Castiel whispers, hands sliding up Dean's thighs to settle on his hips. His touch helps Dean relax enough to slide down further until he's bottomed out and sitting over Castiel's groin. 

Dean braces his hands on Castiel's shoulders as a shiver runs down his spine, letting his eyes flutter closed before he grinds forward in Castiel's lap. Castiel lets him start at his own pace, holding Dean around the middle as Dean bucks his hips, fingers pressing into Dean's flesh until it feels like it might bruise. Dean feels so damn _full_ , and hot; like his blood is burning in his veins.

He leans down and presses a wet, messy kiss to Castiel's mouth before he lifts his hips until only the head of Castiel's cock is still inside him, then thrusts his body back down again, grunting when it brushes up against his prostate. He does it again, then again, and again, settling his fingers over the middle of Castiel’s chest to feel the vibrations of his moans in his skin. Castiel lets Dean do all the work, and Dean has a comment on laziness on the tip of his tongue that he can't get out when he loses his breath every time he thrusts down onto Castiel's cock.

When Dean can feel his orgasm beginning to build in his gut, his thighs start to ache and he has to stop, which both his cock and the man under him protest. "I need to swap, my thighs feel like they're on fire," he tells Castiel, rubbing his knuckle down the muscle on the underside of his thigh. "It's your fault, making me do all the work, lazy son of a bitch."

Castiel laughs, sliding his arm around Dean's shoulders, rolling them over so Dean's on his back and Castiel's braced over him, cock still deep in Dean's body. "You seemed happy to take control and I was happy to oblige," he says, punctuating his words with a thrust into Dean's body that makes him whine and arch his back. 

"I helped you when it was the other way around, asshole," Dean replies when he gets enough breath back to speak, though the last word is almost unrecognizable when Castiel thrusts into him again. Dean slides his hands under Castiel's arms and around the angel's back, holding on as Castiel fucks into him, hard and fast, unrelenting. Dean barely recognizes the noises he's making; high pitched whines and deep groans.

Dean comes first, groaning Castiel's name against his throat, his body squeezing tight around the angel's cock. He shivers through the aftershocks, through Castiel's continued thrusts, and he’s just starting to become too over-sensitive to bear when Castiel finally groans and spills into his body. Dean slides his hands from Castiel's back to take Castiel's face into his hands, panting into his mouth as he kisses him, much more interested in the touch of Castiel's tongue on his than trying to get his breathing back to normal. 

Castiel's careful when he slides his cock from Dean's body, rubbing Dean's hip to soothe him, then falls onto the bed beside him, curling under his arm with his face tucked into Dean's ribs. 

Dean has just let his eyes fall shut and is about to fall asleep when the disposable phone Rowena had given them begins to ring. He groans, annoyed, and slides out from under Castiel to find the phone, pulling it from the pocket of his jeans, answering it.

"Hey, are you guys almost done?" Sam asks from the receiver, a nervous tilt to his voice. It makes Dean worry. "Bobby's found the location, at least to a five-block radius, and…”

“And?”

“Well, Crowley’s gone. And he took the book.”

“Son of a bitch.”

-*-*-

They check out of the hotel, finish collecting the ingredients Rowena needs, and are back in Luxemburg within the hour. It's seven in the morning, but everyone is awake and alert, sitting in the kitchen and sharing a pot of coffee. When Sam sees them he opens his mouth to say something, no doubt to tell Dean he told him so, but Dean interrupts him before he can speak.

"So while Lucifer was here, he obviously told Crowley how to lower archangel warding. Yes Sam, you were right and I'm sorry for accusing Gabriel."

Gabriel looks up from the chocolate bar he's been eating, eyebrows furrowed, and says, "You accused me of working with Lucifer? He's a bag of dicks."

"Yes and I was wrong, so let's get over it and deal with it." Dean turns to Rowena and hands her the bag of ingredients before he says, "Would you be real mad with me if I killed your son? Because that's where I'm leaning right now." She scoffs and waves her hand dismissively, and Dean's not entirely sure if that's a confirmation or not. Either way, he's going to kill the son of bitch, and he's gonna make damn sure it hurts. "So where the hell is Lucifer?"

Bobby hands him the laptop, open to Google Maps, with an address in the Toledo Southside, a building on the bank of the Maumee River, far from other buildings. 

"How did you find out exactly where he was?"

"Police reports," Bobby says simply, not bothering to elaborate. "I'm sure he's there."

"So, I guess it's time," Dean nods his head matter of factly. "We'll summon the witch tonight, we all need time to sleep and get ready. Rowena, call the coven."

They all part to their respective corners. Castiel follows Dean up to the bedroom and watches as he collapses onto the bed, pressing his face into the pillows. He's still wearing his clothes and his shoes, but he's just too fucking tired to bother. 

"I don't know if I'm worried, or not, or if I'm just numb and waiting for it all to hit," he whispers, voice muffled by the pillows. He feels Castiel slip into the bed behind him, knee pressed up against Dean's ass, his hand sliding over Dean's hip and under his shirt to gently pet at his skin. Dean yawns and turns his face so it's not pressed into the pillow anymore. "Tell me what you want to do when you're human again. When this is all over - Lucifer and the Men of Letters."

Castiel's nails carefully scrape down Dean's spine and Dean shivers, rolling onto his belly, sliding his hands under the pillow his head is resting on. He hums and leans down to press a kiss to the flesh of Dean's back, under his rib cage before he starts to speak. "I'm going to eat an entire chocolate block myself, then we'll share a bottle of whiskey and fuck ourselves stupid." Dean snorts, and he can feel the smile on Castiel's lips as he leans down to press a kiss to his skin again. Castiel then says, "Find a cabin in the woods, move in with you and Jack, find more wayward orphans to adopt, spend years finding out if a shapeshifter and a werewolf can have biological children together." Dean hums in amusement, feeling more and more relaxed as the seconds tick by, his body melting into the mattress. "Bond with you, marry you, grow old with you."

Dean goes to tell Castiel how much he'd like that, but he's asleep before he can.

-*-*-

Dean's waiting in the front courtyard with Sam when the Coven portal in, each woman walking through the circle of purple light one-by-one until it finally closes behind them. Dean's never met a single one of them, but he cares about Rowena too much to even bother pretending like he'll even fake being friendly towards them. She's his family, and they fucked her over and treated her like dirt.

"Some ground rules," He starts, pointing at the women. "Claire has been given permission to shoot you if you piss anyone off, or say anything to anyone she deems rude. They won't be witch bullets so they won't kill you, but they'll hurt like a bitch, so don't try it. If you leave Rowena high and dry during any part of this, I'll find you and I'll eat you - you've agreed and you're here, so stay here. You'll need to keep your strengths up while you're working - you absolutely cannot fuck up - so eat whatever you want in the fridge. Except the pie. If I come back and someone's eaten my pie, I'm gonna eat them. Lastly," Dean says, smiling in a way that shows the sharp point of his canines. "If I find any of you have been working with Lucifer, his witch, or _Crowley_ , I'm going to do worse than eat you, I'm going to make you eat yourselves."

The women are good enough at hiding their emotions that Dean can barely even smell their fear, but it's definitely there. _Good_. He waves them inside and turns to his brother when they've disappeared. Sam is frowning and smells of curiosity and a dose of awed fear.

"Would you actually eat them?"

Dean doesn't need to think about it for longer than a moment before he replies, "Rowena is my family, my best friend, the only person I spoke to for years at a time. Yes, I would eat them."

Sam nods. "Me too."

The angels arrive next, popping in with a flutter of wings. Gabriel stands in the middle, a woman on one side of him, with red hair who's shorter than even Gabriel, and a man on the other with dirty blonde hair and strangely piercing blue eyes. 

"One ground rule for you lot: if we find out you've betrayed us to Lucifer or Michael, we find out what happens to an angel when a werewolf eats them. Okay? Awesome. Go find Castiel."

Gabriel shoots Sam a wink on his way past and Dean pretends to gag.

"What's going on with Gabriel? I don't want specifics," Dean says, kicking at the grass under his boot. They're waiting for the humans to return with ammo and firearms now, and then they start. A strange mix of anticipation, fear, and the early stages of adrenaline swim in his gut.

Sam rolls his eyes and says, "Look, it wasn't my idea, okay, but I didn't say no. There was a _Last Night on Earth_ situation."

Dean chokes on his own saliva and turns to look over at Sam, eyes comically wide. "What, last night? With just Gabriel, or…?"

"It was Rowena's idea."

Dean chokes again and suddenly realizes his cheeks are hot and his face is flaming as a blush spreads across his cheeks. He's over it now, he doesn't want to know. "Okay, cool. Stop talking now."

Sam's face looks just as red as Dean's feels, and he nods his agreement, then they both turn back to stare at the garden, falling into an awkward silence. The portal appears seconds later and Dean silently thanks the Gods as Rowena, Bobby, Jody, and Donna step through.

"Bobby had an entire _cache_ of weapons hidden in a crypt," Donna says, brimming with excitement and bouncing on the balls of her feet like a child on Christmas morning. "I'm so mad he never told us. He had bullets carved with devil's traps and a demon-killing blade. _A demon-killing blade_. And a gun that can kill everything but five things in the whole of existence. He won't let me touch it." She's pouting and it's kind of hilarious to Dean.

Bobby shrugs and pulls an old revolver from the bag slung over his shoulder, handing it to Dean butt-first, then says, "You'll need this." Dean stares down at the gun in his hands. It's old, and it smells like gunpowder and herbs he can't name. Someone has carved a pentagram into the handle and the words _non timbo mala_ on the barrel. Dean's Latin isn't great, but even he knows _I will fear no evil_. He looks back up at Bobby and goes to ask him while he'll need it, but the older man interrupts him before he can, "It won't kill Lucifer, but it'll stun him, buy you some time." He reaches back into the bag and pulls out a knife with a serrated blade and an antler handle, words in a language Dean doesn't recognize carved into the steel. He flips the knife so he's holding the dull edge of the blade and hands it to Sam. "Demon blade. Stick 'em with the pointy end in any and all major arteries."

"Thank you," Sam says, tucking the blade into his belt.

They enter the house together and head to the lounge room where the others are waiting. It's crowded, too many people shoved into such a small room and Dean quiets the room, sending everyone off to their respective corners, leaving the witches the only occupants while the others watch from the doorways.

Rowena's already set up the room with candles, an altar with a brass bowl, and all the ingredients, and all she has to do is set up the other women in the right spots. Dean's paying close attention to them and doesn't notice Castiel has stepped up behind him until Castiel's fingers slide under Dean's shirt and curl around the waistband of his jeans. He sits his fingers there, maybe to comfort himself or Dean, or just because he can, and Dean lets him. 

The candles in each woman's hands light with a flick of Rowena's wrist and they all place them into a shape on the floor that Dean doesn't recognize from this angle. They begin to chant in Latin, the flames flickering higher and higher as they do before they're so bright Dean can't look at them anymore. Rowena throws something into the bowl of ingredients and smoke plumes out, surrounding the women before settling into the middle of the candles. When it clears, a woman is revealed inside. She has dark brown curls and soft brown eyes, and she's wearing a dress similar to what Dean would expect from Rowena: modern, elegant, and practical. She crosses her arms over her chest and frowns.

"Children," she says in lieu of a greeting.

Dean has this weird feeling he's seen her before, and when he realizes where from, he feels so angry he thinks he might explode, or spontaneously shift. She's the woman who sold them the crib in the Bolivian flea market. She'd been watching them.

Dean pulls away from Castiel and steps up next to Rowena. "If I step inside the trap will I break it?" Rowena nods. "Okay," he says, then turns his attention to the witch.

"Wolf-boy." She doesn't seem afraid at all, despite being held by almost twenty powerful witches, in a house full of other powerful beings while a werewolf shows her his canines, and Dean doesn't appreciate that at all.

He steps closer to her and the trap, staring at her unwaveringly for what feels like an hour until she finally falters, the ugly grin on her face morphing into a grimace. He tilts his chin and gives her his sharp, teeth-filled smile, and says, "When I return with my kid, I'm going to eat your heart out of your chest." He turns on his heels and heads out through the doorway towards the others, and says, "Let’s go."

-*-*-

They land in front of what looks like an abandoned factory, Enochian symbols painted in red on the walls. He gestures to the three humans and they take the front entrance. The wait, while probably no longer than a minute, is painful, and Dean can hear his blood rushing in his ears. He still has his hand around Castiel's wrist, but the angel hasn't made him let go, for which he's glad.

The change in the building's power is noticeable as the wards come down, and Dean sends the two angels in to retrieve the humans before he and the others enter behind them, separating at the door.

Dean and Castiel follow the trail of Lucifer's power, up the stairs and down the hallway into what must have been the office when the building was a factory. The archangel is sitting a chair suspiciously like a throne, with Dagon by his side and Jack nowhere to be seen. Dean points the Colt Bobby gave him at them.

"Where is he?"

The laugh that comes from Lucifer's mouth sounds like nails on a chalkboard, or styrofoam, and Dean pushes down the urge to grimace. "A gun, Dean? Really?"

Dean doesn't rise to the bait. The gun is a hand he doesn't want to play until he has to, and he doesn't want to give away. "Where. Is. he."

"Not here."

Dean's heart feels like it might beat out of his chest it's thumping so hard, but he's not afraid. He's angry, so angry he's vibrating with it. Anger gets him dead, so he takes a moment to calm down, breathing in through his nose, letting the smell of Castiel wash over him. It helps. "Where is Jack?"

Lucifer's eyes shine yellow dangerously, a warning, but Dean doesn't back down. "You mean my son?"

"He is not _your son_ ," Castiel hisses. A rush of his power washing over Dean tells him the angel's eyes are shining celestial blue, and even if it doesn't seem to do anything to Lucifer, Dagon's eyes blink. It's barely imperceptible, but it's there, and they can use it.

“Oh little brother, you always did want things you couldn’t have.”

Dean really doesn't like the way Lucifer is looking at Castiel, and he really wants to shoot him, but he thinks better of it before he actually does it. "Where. Is. Jack?"

Lucifer sucks his teeth, and with all the impatience and sarcasm of a teenager who's being told off by their parents and couldn't give fuck, rolls his eyes and says, "Do you think I'm _stupid_ enough to keep him here with me once I knew you were coming? I'm the fucking Devil."

Dean reaches up to thread his fingers through his hair with the hand not holding the gun, tugging at it until it hurts. How the fuck are they supposed to find Jack now, especially once they throw Lucifer into the Cage?

When he looks at Castiel, the angel is frowning, head tilted as he studies Lucifer. "You sent Jack away with the witch."

"What?" Dean hisses. The witch they have? Did they leave Jack alone somewhere when they summoned her? Dean's chest clenches. 

Lucifer looks almost surprised, like he wasn't expecting them to figure it out so quickly, and at least Dean can say they have a leg up over the Devil. Even if only for now. "If only for curiosity's sake, how did you figure it out?"

"We summoned the witch. You knew we were coming, but not as quickly as you would have if she was here," Dean says when he realizes the thought processes that brought Castiel to the realization that the witch had Jack. "If you left Jack alone with the witch, he's alone right now. _Where the fuck is he_?"

A muscle under Lucifer's eye twitches, his mouth turned into a frown. "Why would I tell you when I can simply retrieve him myself?"

Dean has this horrible feeling that Lucifer's about to dissapear, so he shoots him, aiming for his head. The bullet lands a few feet lower than his head, but it does land, planting itself in Lucifer's chest, spreading out into his body in a flash of yellow, like sparks of lightning. He drops to his knees and collapses to the floor, and Dean is just about to send Castiel off to tell Rowena when a wisp of blue-white smoke curls out from the Devil's mouth.

"What have you done!" Dagon yells, charging Dean with her eyes bright yellow and glowing like the sun. Dean shoots her too, but she disappears before it hits her. She reappears again behind him, and he shoots her at again, and again and again. She's laughing, this high ugly thing like the way female cartoon villains laugh, and Dean stops, closing his eyes and taking a breath, centering himself. This time, when he shoots, it sinks into her shoulder, lightning spider webbing out, and she collapses.

When Dean turns back to Lucifer's body, the smoke is still there, a cloud hanging in the air, suspended, and Dean watches it, waits. "What do we do now?" 

Even as he speaks, a rush of power flows into the room like a breeze, smelling of Rowena and the other witches. A hole opens up in the floor and when Dean looks down into it, all he can see is fire. The smoke fights, writhing and squirming, but it can't fight it, and it gets pulled down into the hole before it closes.

"Is that…" Dean says, staring down at the concrete where Lucifer's Grace was sucked into hell. "Was that it? Is it over?"

"That was way too easy," Castiel agrees, frowning. "But he's in and Dagon's dead. We need to go back to the witch and find out where Jack is."

"C'mon," Dean tells him, leading him back out the room and towards the noises from down the hall. 

There are far more demons than they were expecting, at least two dozen, and while a lot of them are already dead, or at least unconscious or exorcised, there's still more left over than there are of Dean and Castiel's group. Dean rushes to Bobby's side, where he lays in the fray, holding his side as blood spills between his fingers.

"You were supposed to leave," He tells the man, looking up and over at Jody and Donna as they stand side by side, guns raised, shooting devil's trap bullets at the demons in the fray.

Bobby coughs, and a small trail of blood spills from his mouth. "And leave you to have all the fun?" The man lets Dean move his fingers aside so he can look at the wound in his belly. He's not sure, but he thinks whatever got the human got him in the liver, and _deep_.

"Jesus, Bobby. Cas!"

Bobby grabs Dean by the collar and pulls him down. "Missouri Mosley, 820 Madeline Lane, Lawrence, Kansas. She's dead now, but it'll be a starting point to finding your brother. Now let me go back to heaven, let me go back to my wife."

"Bobby-"

"You're gonna have to do it boy, I don't want to bleed out," Bobby says gently, reaching up to pat Dean's cheek. "Snap my neck, quick and painless."

Dean grimaces. "Are you sure?"

Bobby says yes with so much conviction that Dean doesn't ask again, and he doesn't think about it for any longer before he gets his hands around the sides of Bobby's face. Bobby takes Dean's elbows in his hands, and nods, and Dean flicks the man's head to the side with a sickening snap. Bobby's body goes lax, and his hands drop from Dean's arms. Dean reaches to straighten the man's head and close his eyes before he climbs back to his feet to help the others, shifting as he joins the fight as his wolf.

He's just about to bite into the leg of a demon and tear it away from Jody when a familiar scent invades his nostrils.

 _Crowley_.

Castiel catches his eye and mouths _go_ , and Dean dashes out the door after the witch.

He finds Crowley on the factory floor, running towards the door and he races after him, pouncing, bringing him to the ground with a hard thump. A growl rumbles out from deep in his chest and Crowley shivers underneath him, bucking his body to get Dean off of him, but with no luck. 

Dean can't decide if he wants to kill the bastard or just hurt him _real fucking bad_. He digs his claws into the witch's body until he smells the copper of blood as he pierces skin.

"I was just protecting myself! You can't fault me for picking the winning side!"

The noise coming out of Crowley's mouth makes it so much worse, and Dean almost shakes with his anger, growling again. Crowley's mouth snaps shut, his eyes flutter closed and he stops moving.

"For fuck's sake just do it."

Dean drags his claws out of Crowley and climbs to his feet as he shifts into his human form. "Pathetic."

Dean's walking away when he hears Crowley stand, smells the rush of power as he gathers his energy to spell Dean. He shifts back into his wolf form and pounces on the witch, clamping his mouth on his arm and biting until he feels muscle tear and bone crack under his teeth. Crowley yowls in pain and Dean flings him off to the side, letting go so he collapses against the concrete floor.

Dean shifts again and stalks towards the groaning figure. "I was going to let you go free, but now I'm going to tear your heart out of your chest." He lifts Crowley to his feet and punches the witch over the face over and over until he feels less like biting his face off. He wants nothing more than to feel Crowley's bones crunching under his teeth, but he's still Rowena's son, and even if she had sort of given him permission to kill him, he knows she'll be devastated, and he doesn't want that. Instead, he shifts again and takes Crowley's broken arm in his jaw (making sure to clamp down hard until he knows it'll hurt), dragging him out to the others. 

The demons are all dealt with and the others are dealing with injuries. Dean drops Crowley and shifts back so he can put his clothes on.

"Where's Jack?"

-*-*-

Castiel transports them back into the hallway and Dean drops Crowley's limp arm. He's since passed out, and Dean thanks the Gods he's stopped groaning, cause it just made Dean want to kill him again. He leaves the hallway to step inside the lounge room, the Colt pointed at the witch still trapped inside.

"Do you know what this is?" She looks at the gun, then at Dean and nods her head, the tiniest spark of fear behind her eyes. "Lucifer is trapped in hell, so tell me, where is the baby?"

"Motel 6 Natchitoches, Louisiana, room 21," the witch replies without a second's pause. 

Dean hands the Colt to Claire and tells the witch, "If he's not there Claire will shoot you, understand?"

The witch nods and Dean stalks out of the room, holding his hand out to Cas when he reaches the angel. They leave in a flutter of wings, landing in a motel parking lot as the sun is setting, in front of the door to room 21. He can already hear Jack's cries. When Dean turns the handle it's locked, but it swings open at the touch of Castiel's fingers. Jack is on the bed, crying his heart out and stinking like his diaper hasn't been changed since they took him. He's crying from hunger, and Dean dives for him, picking him up and holding him close. 

"Okay, okay," Dean whispers, stroking him gently. His cries quieten and the smell of distress lessens, and even though he's still unhappy and whimpering, he's far more content, and Dean would like to think it's because they're here. "Alright buddy, let's take you home."

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'd by [Tia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiamatv/pseuds/tiamatv), [Feathers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Feathers7501), [Kitti](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittimau) and [Jen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wargurl83).
> 
> Do you like Destiel? Come join us in the [Profound Bond](https://discord.gg/profoundbond) Discord Server!


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